Texas data centers could reverse decades of air quality gains, HARC report warns
The Houston Advanced Research Center released a report on air quality projecting that data center construction across Texas could increase major air pollutants to levels not seen since the early 2000s, depending on how the facilities are powered. The report modeled three scenarios with varying outcomes for nitrogen oxide emissions, particulate matter and other pollutants by 2031.
Earlier story. First reported Oct 20, 2026 at 11:03 am; added to this site Oct 23, 2026. Details may have changed since.
- When it happened
- Report released Tuesday, Oct. 20, 2026
- Where
- Texas, with focus on Houston and Harris County impacts
- First reported by an outlet
- Oct 20, 2026 at 11:03 am
- Confirmed by
- 5 independent outlets
Taxes & money
None stated in sources.
Who's involved
The facts
- At least 288 data center projects are planned across Texas, according to a Texas Tribune analysis cited in the October 20, 2026 report.[4]
- Between 2002 and 2024, Texas cut its major air pollutants even as the state's population grew by millions and its economy roughly doubled.[4]
- If all planned data centers connect to the Texas grid and are powered by the anticipated grid mix, nitrogen oxide emissions could increase 136 percent by 2031, approaching 2004 pollution levels.[2,5]
- If data centers use traditional on-site natural-gas power sources, nitrogen oxide emissions could increase nearly 400 percent by 2031 under HARC's modeling.[4]
- Under a cleaner scenario where data centers connect to the grid and deploy wind and solar on site, nitrogen oxide emissions could still rise 35 percent by 2031.[4]
- Fine particle pollution or soot from the power sector would more than triple under the grid scenario, reaching its highest level since 2006.[5]
- Volatile organic compounds would rise more than 30 percent above 2002 levels under HARC's modeling.[2]
- The Electric Reliability Council of Texas received over 500 requests to connect large electricity users in the past two years, compared to two dozen such requests the year before, according to state records from summer 2026.[4]
- Gov. Greg Abbott temporarily halted new data centers from connecting to the state's power grid pending an audit examining each facility's power demand, water and cooling use, public financial assistance and community impacts.[4]
Who said what
- John Hall, CEO of Houston Advanced Research Center There is a good chance that our children and grandchildren will breathe dirtier air than we did, and the transportation sector, the state, and other stakeholders have been working for decades to successfully bring these numbers down, and that progress is now at risk.[2,5]
- Carlos Gamarra, vice president for energy, air and IT for Houston Advanced Research Center There is a significant increase in different pollutant emissions that needs to be addressed because otherwise this could have strong implications for the population and environment, and Texas needs to treat data centers as the industrial facilities they are to hold them accountable to the same standards that produced Texas progress.[4]
Where sources disagree
Sources
- News Center Data centers & air quality (Oct. 26, 2026) Houston Public Media · Oct 26, 2026
- News Not rated Texas Data Centers Threaten to Overturn Decades of Air Quality Improvements PCMag Australia · Oct 22, 2026
- News Not rated Nearly 300 Planned Data Center Projects Threaten Texas’s Air Quality Progress Truthout · Oct 20, 2026
- News Not rated Texas data center boom could erase decades of progress on air quality MyRGV.com · Oct 20, 2026
- News Not rated Data centers could erase decades of air quality gains The Verge · Oct 21, 2026
Also reported by
- PCMag UK Not rated
- PCMag Not rated
- AOL.com Not rated
- Texarkana Gazette Not rated
Written by AI from the sources above, under fixed rules: every fact is cited, claims are kept apart from facts, and dollar figures appear only when a source states them. Mistakes get corrected in public.